PSYC101 Final Exam: Short Answer Essay on 5 Major Questions
Question 1:) Discuss the ethical implications associated with psychological research that involves
human subjects. What steps might researchers take to protect human subjects in research?
My Answer:
In research, ethics are rules in place that are needed for the specific experiment to be conducted, and
they have great importance in following through with psychological research. The rules are put into
place to respect the human subjects that are being study in the experiments at hand. As researchers, we
all would like the information that we desire at all costs, but it significantly is important to keep in mind
that the APA places polices and guidelines, which is called the APA ethic code, that would deem each
experiment as ethical or unethical, and this is done to treat the human subjects as humane as possible.
There are a number of ethical principles that should be considered when conducting psychological
research. To start when conducting undergraduate and master’s level dissertation research for example,
ethical principles stress the need to first off do good, which is known as beneficence, and also secondly
to do not harm, which is known as non-malfeasance. When practicing these ethics, these principles
mean the researcher must third, obtain informed consent from all research participants, and fourth,
minimize the risk of harm to all participants. Continued with the fourth ethical principle, the researcher
should protect their anonymity and conditionality throughout the research. Also, fifth they should give
the participants the right to withdraw from the research at any given time. When you look at all of these
5 major ethical principles, it may appear obvious that your dissertation should include all of these
principles and elements. Another thing to note, is that there are many instances where it is not possible
or desirable to obtain informed consent from research participants. This would be a circumstance where
you seek permission for all participants not to protect their anonymity. Often, this choice would directly
reflect the research strategy that you adopt to guide your dissertation. Broadly speaking, then your
dissertation research shouldn’t only aim to do good (beneficence), but also avoid doing harm (non-
malfeasance). While ethical requirements throughout research vary across countries, these are the basic
principles of research ethics. All of these are important not only for ethical reasons, but also practical
ones, since a failure to meet the basic principles may lead your research to be biased and criticized,
potentially leading to a lower mark, and thus rejected by your supervisor or ethics committee, that will
cost you valuable time.
Overall, the five main practical ethical principles that stem from these basic principles are listed as
follows: Principal one which is minimizing the harm, principal two is obtaining informed consent,
principal three is protecting anonymity and conditionality, principal four avoiding deceptive practices,
and principal five providing the right to withdraw. All of these are of great importance with
psychological research, and it is hard to choose which one I feel is at the upmost importance but if I were
to participate in research, then I would have to say that principal five I would find the most important.
My reason for this is due to if the experiment runs in an unethical direction then I have the right to
withdraw at any given time.
Question 2:) Select two theoretical perspectives from which to explain psychosocial development
throughout the lifespan (i.e. Freud and Erikson, etc.). Describe the major tenets of each theory.
Compare and contrast the two approaches to explaining development.
This study source was downloaded by 100000836551366 from CourseHero.com on 03-02-2022 07:18:45 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/42904752/PSYC101-Final-Examdocx/
, Two theoretical perspectives from which to explain psychosocial development throughout lifespan are
behaviorism and constructivism for instances. Behaviorism is a philosophy based on the simple
proposition that all things which organisms do including acting, thinking and feeling, can and should be
regarded as behaviors. While, in education, behaviorist approaches emphasize through rewarding
correct performance. On the other hand, constructivist psychology theorizes about and also investigate
how human beings can create systems for meaningful understanding in their worlds and experiences.
While in education, constructivist approaches emphasize active engagement of learners with the
conceptual content through strategies such as talking (not just listening), writing (not just reading), and
lastly interactions, problem-solving and many other active approaches are included.
A way these two contrasts and have a key difference in these two approaches is that behaviorism is
centered around the transmission of knowledge from the instructor to student (passive student and a
top-down or instructor-centered approach), whereas constructivism is mainly focused on the
construction of knowledge by the student. A way these two compare, are that they both have each their
own set of theories that accompany them.
Behaviorism was first studied by the psychologist John Watson and also B. F. Skinner, and what the study
stated, is that psychology should be defined not as solely the study of the mind, but also the internal
mental processes via introspection, but as the science of behavior. They were the two most famous
psychological behaviorism discoveries of all time. On the other hand, when we lean towards
constructivism theories, Jean Piaget was considered amongst one of the first constructivism theorist of
all times. The theory is a broad concept that encompassed many different disciplines, including
sociology, and lastly education. Both behaviorism and constructivism played a major role in the
developmental studies of psychosocial development studied throughout history in psychology.
Question 3:) Select a psychological disorder you explored in class. Describe the symptoms,
challenges, and possible treatment approaches to this disorder.
A psychological disorder that we have explored in class, and that I know even on a personal level all
too well is Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a long-term mental disorder that typically affects only a
low amount of 1% of individuals in todays world. It is a mental disorder that involves a breakdown in
the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior. It often leads to faulty perception, and
inappropriate actions and feelings of being withdrawn from reality and all personal relationship into a
fantasy like and delusion world. Overall, the mental senses are fragmented meaning having
extreme distortion between realities. Schizophrenia also has three different phases such a
prodromal (the beginning), acute (the active phase), and last recovery (which is also known as the
residual phase). All three phases of Schizophrenia are just as serious to treat, and each come along
with their own symptoms which we will get into discussing next.
Next, we will discuss some of the symptoms, challenges, and possible treatment approaches for this
disorder. As we have discussed above, some of the symptoms will be repeated but include
behavioral, cognitive, mood, psychological, and speech disturbances. With the behavioral
symptoms, just a few include social isolation, disorganized behavior, aggression, agitation,
compulsive behavior, excitability, hostility, repetitive movements, self-harm, or lack of restraint.
Cognitive symptoms include thought disorder, delusion, amnesia, belief that an ordinary event has
This study source was downloaded by 100000836551366 from CourseHero.com on 03-02-2022 07:18:45 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/42904752/PSYC101-Final-Examdocx/
Question 1:) Discuss the ethical implications associated with psychological research that involves
human subjects. What steps might researchers take to protect human subjects in research?
My Answer:
In research, ethics are rules in place that are needed for the specific experiment to be conducted, and
they have great importance in following through with psychological research. The rules are put into
place to respect the human subjects that are being study in the experiments at hand. As researchers, we
all would like the information that we desire at all costs, but it significantly is important to keep in mind
that the APA places polices and guidelines, which is called the APA ethic code, that would deem each
experiment as ethical or unethical, and this is done to treat the human subjects as humane as possible.
There are a number of ethical principles that should be considered when conducting psychological
research. To start when conducting undergraduate and master’s level dissertation research for example,
ethical principles stress the need to first off do good, which is known as beneficence, and also secondly
to do not harm, which is known as non-malfeasance. When practicing these ethics, these principles
mean the researcher must third, obtain informed consent from all research participants, and fourth,
minimize the risk of harm to all participants. Continued with the fourth ethical principle, the researcher
should protect their anonymity and conditionality throughout the research. Also, fifth they should give
the participants the right to withdraw from the research at any given time. When you look at all of these
5 major ethical principles, it may appear obvious that your dissertation should include all of these
principles and elements. Another thing to note, is that there are many instances where it is not possible
or desirable to obtain informed consent from research participants. This would be a circumstance where
you seek permission for all participants not to protect their anonymity. Often, this choice would directly
reflect the research strategy that you adopt to guide your dissertation. Broadly speaking, then your
dissertation research shouldn’t only aim to do good (beneficence), but also avoid doing harm (non-
malfeasance). While ethical requirements throughout research vary across countries, these are the basic
principles of research ethics. All of these are important not only for ethical reasons, but also practical
ones, since a failure to meet the basic principles may lead your research to be biased and criticized,
potentially leading to a lower mark, and thus rejected by your supervisor or ethics committee, that will
cost you valuable time.
Overall, the five main practical ethical principles that stem from these basic principles are listed as
follows: Principal one which is minimizing the harm, principal two is obtaining informed consent,
principal three is protecting anonymity and conditionality, principal four avoiding deceptive practices,
and principal five providing the right to withdraw. All of these are of great importance with
psychological research, and it is hard to choose which one I feel is at the upmost importance but if I were
to participate in research, then I would have to say that principal five I would find the most important.
My reason for this is due to if the experiment runs in an unethical direction then I have the right to
withdraw at any given time.
Question 2:) Select two theoretical perspectives from which to explain psychosocial development
throughout the lifespan (i.e. Freud and Erikson, etc.). Describe the major tenets of each theory.
Compare and contrast the two approaches to explaining development.
This study source was downloaded by 100000836551366 from CourseHero.com on 03-02-2022 07:18:45 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/42904752/PSYC101-Final-Examdocx/
, Two theoretical perspectives from which to explain psychosocial development throughout lifespan are
behaviorism and constructivism for instances. Behaviorism is a philosophy based on the simple
proposition that all things which organisms do including acting, thinking and feeling, can and should be
regarded as behaviors. While, in education, behaviorist approaches emphasize through rewarding
correct performance. On the other hand, constructivist psychology theorizes about and also investigate
how human beings can create systems for meaningful understanding in their worlds and experiences.
While in education, constructivist approaches emphasize active engagement of learners with the
conceptual content through strategies such as talking (not just listening), writing (not just reading), and
lastly interactions, problem-solving and many other active approaches are included.
A way these two contrasts and have a key difference in these two approaches is that behaviorism is
centered around the transmission of knowledge from the instructor to student (passive student and a
top-down or instructor-centered approach), whereas constructivism is mainly focused on the
construction of knowledge by the student. A way these two compare, are that they both have each their
own set of theories that accompany them.
Behaviorism was first studied by the psychologist John Watson and also B. F. Skinner, and what the study
stated, is that psychology should be defined not as solely the study of the mind, but also the internal
mental processes via introspection, but as the science of behavior. They were the two most famous
psychological behaviorism discoveries of all time. On the other hand, when we lean towards
constructivism theories, Jean Piaget was considered amongst one of the first constructivism theorist of
all times. The theory is a broad concept that encompassed many different disciplines, including
sociology, and lastly education. Both behaviorism and constructivism played a major role in the
developmental studies of psychosocial development studied throughout history in psychology.
Question 3:) Select a psychological disorder you explored in class. Describe the symptoms,
challenges, and possible treatment approaches to this disorder.
A psychological disorder that we have explored in class, and that I know even on a personal level all
too well is Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a long-term mental disorder that typically affects only a
low amount of 1% of individuals in todays world. It is a mental disorder that involves a breakdown in
the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior. It often leads to faulty perception, and
inappropriate actions and feelings of being withdrawn from reality and all personal relationship into a
fantasy like and delusion world. Overall, the mental senses are fragmented meaning having
extreme distortion between realities. Schizophrenia also has three different phases such a
prodromal (the beginning), acute (the active phase), and last recovery (which is also known as the
residual phase). All three phases of Schizophrenia are just as serious to treat, and each come along
with their own symptoms which we will get into discussing next.
Next, we will discuss some of the symptoms, challenges, and possible treatment approaches for this
disorder. As we have discussed above, some of the symptoms will be repeated but include
behavioral, cognitive, mood, psychological, and speech disturbances. With the behavioral
symptoms, just a few include social isolation, disorganized behavior, aggression, agitation,
compulsive behavior, excitability, hostility, repetitive movements, self-harm, or lack of restraint.
Cognitive symptoms include thought disorder, delusion, amnesia, belief that an ordinary event has
This study source was downloaded by 100000836551366 from CourseHero.com on 03-02-2022 07:18:45 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/42904752/PSYC101-Final-Examdocx/
